Oh Mega Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies & Superfood Green Monster

Meet the carrot cake cookie in breakfast form. I cut down the oil (using applesauce to replace some of it) and amped up the protein, fibre, and healthy fats naturally using ground flax.

In my first version, I used protein powder instead of flax, but the texture was weird and the flavour was off. Ground flax all the way!

I also left them chunky instead of flattening them down. Much better.

The cookies are lightly sweet, with a lovely carrot cake flavour and the texture of a muffin top. I added in a full cup of grated carrots and a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger for a boost of nutrition and an authentic carrot cake flavour. Ginger also aids in digestion as an added bonus.

Eric summed them up nicely, “If I was looking for a healthy cookie, I would be happy with these. If I wanted a regular unhealthy dessert cookie, I might be a bit disappointed. But they are perfect for breakfast or a snack and I like that they taste like a muffin.”

I’m not sure I can add anything to that, so I’ll just give you the recipe! Nutritional info follows.

4.9 from 8 reviews

Oh Mega Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies

Vegan, soy-free

By Angela Liddon

Like a healthy breakfast muffin in carrot cake cookie form. Coconut oil, maple syrup, and fresh ginger work well to create a nice carrot cake flavour, however if you are without those ingredients you can try subbing in another light tasting oil of your choice, other liquid sweetener, and ground ginger (maybe 1/4 tsp?).

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325F and toast the pecans for 10-11 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the batter. In a large bowl, mix together the flax, flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and raisins.

Grate the carrots and ginger using the finest grate. In a smaller bowl, melt the coconut oil in the microwave for about 45-60 seconds. You want the oil hot so it doesn’t clump up when adding the cold wet ingredients. Now add in the maple syrup, carrots, applesauce, grated ginger, and vanilla. Stir well.

Remove pecans from the oven and add to the dry ingredients. Increase oven temp to 350F. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. The dough will be very sticky, so not to worry.

With a spoon, scoop about 13 cookies onto a lined baking sheet. They don’t spread much so you can put them an inch apart. Bake for 14-15 minutes at 350F and allow to cool on baking sheet.

3. I also wanted to point out that I added some social media icons on the right hand sidebar of my page for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Email Subscribe, and RSS! Sorry it took me so long…I’m a bit slow with figuring out these things! In case anyone else is interested, I used this WordPress Social Media Widget.

Mmm these sound tasty Ange! I bet they made your house smell pretty great as well. Eric is a very good food critic – I know that he, like me, has a highly sophisticated palate when it comes to carrot-based goods lol!!! Have a great day!

I’m so glad I bought a bag of carrots this week! Of course between this and pineapple carrot muffin recipe I found, I’ll need to buy another bag for the chicken noodle soup I was going to make but it’s all good baby! Tell the hubby thanks for his input too. I have a feeling my hubs will feel about the same. But it’s all about variety right!

I love how they look unflattened! Such great texture. I haven’t had a green smoothie in way too long! Wow, the PPK top 100 list looks awesome. Need to check that out! And reading the other article, I just realized there is a vegan food truck in Denver! I’ll have to check that out at some point.

These cookies look DELICIOUS, can’t wait to try out the recipe! :) Also – I have been buying a different brand of protein powder lately, but prefer Garden of Life, just wondering do you buy it in store or order it? I’ve heard it can be less expensive to order online, but haven’t found the best site to do so… iherb perhaps?

My Green Monster is just like yours, minus the berries :)! I love it! I’m going to make these cookies after falling in love with the itty bitty carrot cake ones…do you think I could replace flax seeds with something else? It’s not easy to find them around here! Thanks!

You could maybe replace it with chia seeds (but I doubt you can find those if you cant find flax), however I wouldn’t use a full 3/4 cup of chia…maybe 1/4 cup since they absorb so much moisture.
Maybe try 1/2 cup wheat germ or more oats?

Angela, when I got the feed of your post this morning, I couldn’t wipe a grin off of my FACE!There is something just so EXCITING about your posts. So, thank you. really, thank you. My Grandpa died on Sunday and it’s been really hard for me and really hard for my entire family. Because Grandpa was such an icon, the family is getting flooded with words and prayers and it’s a bit overwhelming. REALLY, I just want to say, thank you, Angela, because your blog is such a lovely place to just hang out (however nerdy I do sound)

These look fantastic! I actually love healthier cookies. I used to be a cookie fiend but now that I’ve stopped eating regular sugary, buttery cookies I don’t really want them anymore(OK, just sometimes ;) ), so these look perfect. Can’t wait to give these a try :)

Angela, these look awesome… I get the same reaction from my husband when I make healthy cookies instead of dessert cookies :) But he’s gotten more and more used to them over the years! I’m going to a skating competition in Mississauga this weekend and was trying to think of some healthy snack to take, and if I have time I will definitely go with these. the ingredients are going on my grocery list, and I’ll be sure to check back to let you know if I get them made… I love that you mentioned the tea to warm up this time of year after green smoothie for breakfast :)

Well, the cookies went very well :) I made half the batch with protein powder (for me to take to the competition) and half with flour to leave at home with my husband. I liked the protein powder ones, but Phil preferred the flour ;) Anyway, this is a fantastic recipe that I’ll definitely use again. Love the mound of flax going in there!! I didn’t think about it when I read the recipe, but when I was measuring it out it made me really happy :) Thanks!

I love that you add the note about them tasting like a healthier breakfast cookie as to not dissappoint anyone. I’m a fan of healthy cookies and what a great way to pump up the veggies first thing in the morning :)

Awesome! I am so excited about this! My work schedule is really weird now, so I eat breakfast around 7:30 and then need to eat half a meal at 10:30 and the second half at 3. This would be perfect for the first half of my meal at 10:30! I’m definitely making these for next week.

I’ve been loving green monsters since new years, they are #1 when trying to get back into the healthy habits. I have to ask, is that an actual pic of the recipe provided? Whenever I add blueberries, even just a few, I have a purple monster :)

hah yup that was the actual pic. I know though isn’t it weird that it didn’t turn colour that much? I was thinking the same thing. I think it was because I only used 1/4 cup and the scoop may have been heavier on the strawberries.

this might be an off color comment (no pun intended) but my boss just had a baby and she’s SO DARK and he’s black (my entire family is African so I feel weird saying “African American” because he’s not) and they just had a baby that is SO WHITE…smoothies can just be surprising like that with the way they mix maybe ;)

Wow – these look awesome! I’ve been looking for something I can make a batch of and throw in the freezer. I’m in Nursing and my usual hot oats don’t bode well with 7am starts 2x a week!
I have been cutting back on my sugar intake and am finding myself really sensitive to sweets! If I cut back the maple syrup to 1/4c, would I have to sub anything else in to compensate or do you think it would be ok?

Side note: I have been following your blog since I became vegan three years ago… in fact, this blog is the main thing that helped me when I thought that I couldn’t handle another salad (although now I crave greens!). You have inspired me so much with vegan food! Thank you!

anything with the phrase carrot cake is golden in my book :) i would love to have one of these now but I went gluten free for a month. would there be a specific flour you would recommend instead of the whole wheat pastry?

GF baking is always unpredictable, but I would like to think the flax would hold the GF flour together? I would probably try oat and almond flour, only b/c I think that would taste great. Let me know if you end up trying a gf version!

Carrot Cake BFast Cookies!? Loving it!! I’ve made some seeded versions of bfast cookies but love the idea of using carrots. I’ll have to make these this afternoon as it’d be a great choice for my kids!!

Thank you for providing specifics regarding ingredients that you use in your recipes. So many times I try a recipe and then when I plug in the nutrients they are nowhere NEAR what has been listed. Having the specific products you use makes it easy to see where the discrepancies might be and allows me to adjust if necessary to the products I have on hand. Thanks again!

Those made my stomach grumble. I’ve been craving cookies constantly lately… I like to see carrot bits in my cookies, so I would go with a slightly larger grate, but then again, my grating is usually very small even on the big side of the grater!

This sounds really good- I think I’m going to try to make larger cookies and have them as a breakfast, along with a little nut butter. I have a huge appetite in the morning and breakfast is usually 400-500 calories!
Have you tried Vega protein powder? I’m kind of obsessed with it. And their vanilla chai flavor makes your smoothie green- instant green monster!

1st: Love (as in L-O-V-E) your blog–read it all the time. Comment like never. You are very inspiring!!! Just wondering what would happen if I used a gluten free flour blend?? I COULD try it myself, of course, but I’d hate to waste a batch if they’ll be yucky. What do you think?? Thanks!!!! :)

Hey Jamie, I’m really not sure! GF baking can be so unpredictable at times. I would guess because of all the flax it would hopefully hold together with GF flour. I would probably try a mix of oat flour and almond flour?

Excellent timing to use up some carrots. But I noticed you have 2 Tb in your green monster for a one serving monster. My husband had me back off for his to only 1 Tb (too much ‘music’ in his intimate office setting). Over the holiday break, I shared with my daughter and she now makes them for herself and her boyfriend after workouts, but he had an ’emergency run’ in the grocery store. And after she served him some muesli with flax seeds on the same day, he’s convinced she’s trying to kill him with biological warfare. So they’re backing off to 2 tsps since she feels like a whale with an upside down blow hole, and he lost half of his body weight (her words, sorry for the mental image). But 2 Tb for you, incredible!

The only disappointing thing about these cookies is the fact that I just did my big weekly grocery shop and I don’t have all of the ingredients on hand to make them! The look wonderful – I need to remember them for next week.

Since the winter has been so unseasonably warm I actually have been getting back into making smoothies lately!! Always looking for a new one to try out! I tend to stick to the same boring combos but this one sounds really good!

Those cookies look great. I am trying to spruce up my baking skills, I am an excellent cook, but baking is a whole other realm. I am hoping to try some raw dehydrated cookies and see if i am any better at “raw baking”. I will give these a try…cross my fingers!

I’m ALWAYS happy to see a recipe for breakfast cookies, love them! Thank you! And I’ve been loving my Green Monster lately – I usually omit the berries and put a tbsp of peanut butter or almond butter and it is a creamy nut buttery delicious smoothie! My favourite juice would probably be apple, spinach, kale and some blended berries – so refreshing, so sweet and so good!

These look lovely and I am such a fan of carrot cake, raisins, cinnamon…all those flavors make me happy. They look perfect for a cool day to put something warm in my tummy. I make oatmeal and blueberry or oatmeal and raisin cakes like this in…the microwave :) Because I am impatient like that. Haha!

What sort of protien supplement would you recommend for smoothies? I bought a cheap generic vanilla one from Walmart but I know there have got to be healthier/better options than Walmart’s idea of ‘healthy’ lol

I just put these little nuggets of joy in the oven. Can’t wait to try them! The batter was delicious (I may have licked the bowl…) I didn’t have any maple syrup, so I substituted honey- hopefully it will work the same. Thanks, Angela, for yet another amazing idea!

i just bought mine from their website…but I have heard that Costco brings them on “tours” throughout their stores. I think you’d have to inquire with them when it’s coming to their store (if they are still doing it that is), but I’ve heard they are quite a bit cheaper. Other than that, I’m not too sure.

Ok, I just had to post a follow-up: These are fantastic! I just took them out of the oven and promptly ate two, then picked a piece off of a third… debating going in for the rest of the third cookie. YUM!

The cookies look like a perfect morning treat – esp to go with the smoothie. I am addicted to the green monsters – despite the cold temps – and always chase them with hot tea!!! Gives me 2 things to look forward to in the morning :-) (now 3 with the cookies!) Thanks for another great recipe

Hi. I’ve never really had any kind of green smoothie, but I visit your blog to get get inspired to eat healthier & to see all the great recipes and photos. Do the berries make it taste more like a fruite smoothie? just asking cuz I dont think id like the taste of the greens..thanks :)

I loooove healthified recipes of cookies, muffins, etc.! I’ve been craving carrot cake and these sound really good~And I love how honest Eric is with you! He kind of reminds me of my fiance. He’s very careful and gentle with how he describes things, but still honest. :P Aren’t we lucky to have them in our lives?! hehe.

Angela, my hubby has been begging me to make something healthy for breakfast other than the mixed buckwheat and oat hot cereal. I thought this would do nicely so I whipped up a batch tonight. They are perfect! I’ll look foward to having these in the morning. Thanks!

This is my kinda cookie! I just pulled them out of the oven and they look delicious! To make gluten-free, I replaced the flour with: 1/2 cup sorghum flour, 1/4 cup arrowroot starch and 1/4 cup sweet rice flour. Then the oats with quinoa flakes. Yummy!! Going to pack 2 in my lunch for today. Thanks for the recipe, Angela.

I made these last night and had them for breakfast this morning! They are awesome, very filling and tasty. As a new vegan missing my sweets I don’t even notice these cookies didn’t have sugar, eggs or milk in this recipe. Amazing!

I made a GF version of these carrot cake cookies last night and used 1/2C buckwheat and 1/2C sorghum flour and they turned out amazing!! I even brought them to work to a non-vegan, non-GF crowd and everyone loves them. I think I will try them again with almond flour instead of the buckwheat just to see how they might be different. Delicious either way I suspect :) Thanks for the recipe!

I have been obsessed with your site for a good 3 weeks now! I just recently went vegetarian, and am slowly transitioning to vegan. Your site has soo many AMAZING recipes!! I especially love your VOO recipes! I am a huge breakfast fan, and anything that tastes yummy and can get me through my morning workouts is a thumbs up!! Soo happy i found your site!!!

Mmm, we both had vegan carrot cake cookies on the brain. I just made some yesterday but a bit more basic ingredients. Mine were crisper almost like a wholesome cracker consistency. Can’t wait to try your version. Yum!

Yummy! I don’t personally like “sweets,” so my dessert creations always tend towards hearty, healthy, and comforting. And this cookie looks like it fits all the criteria (and then some). Thanks for sharing, Angela!

Hi Angela,
I loved the sound of these cookies when I first read your post – I mean a breakfast cookie – what’s not to love! I made a batch on Saturday and they were such a big hit with my boyfriend I had to make more on Sunday! I had run out of ground flax but ground almond and extra oats worked a treat. The cookies are so tasty and we have been having them as pre and post workout snacks! Thanks :-)

My ginger was really fibrous, so I think next time I’ll chop it up and smush it with my garlic press. I also think I’ll squeeze some of the moisture out of my carrots next time. I used a medium cookie scoop and ended up with over 30 cookies! Excellent recipe, I’ll be making these a lot!

I made these yesterday and they’re delicious!! I’m taking a week-long trip next week and want to bring healthy breakfast foods and snacks with me, and these will definitely be perfect. I had one and then froze the rest until I leave or else I’m sure they’d be gone before my trip! Thanks for the great recipe :)

Hello-
I only found your blog- wanted to say I love it! Also, I am not a vegan. I do do eat “real” food and try to focus on veggies! I made a batch of these for breakfast this week- I forgot the applesauce tho. All I had on hand that I thought might work was babyhood- so I used 1 4oz jar of sweet potato and cinnamon and only added1 tbsp of oil (olive) also I used white whole wheat flour as I didn’t have the pastry flour on hand. I also did some small grate carrots and some bigger pieces too…. These are awesome! My baby and I both loved them so much…I can’t wait to eat them for breakfast this week…I may give one to DH to try- I haven’t decided yet… :)

I just made these and they smell delicious! I left them in balls and toward the end of the cooking time I smashed them down as they were not spreading at all. I could not find ww pastry flour either so did a combo of whole wheat and all purpose…maybe that was the issue? I am srue they will still be tasty even if they don’t look as good as yours do!

Hello! I absolutely adore you’re blog. 80% of what I eat are your recipes. Thank you for making being a vegan so easy!

I do have a suggestion for a post though. I just recently adopted a Bengal and I was wondering what you feed sketchie? I’ve been trying to find the most organic natural pet foods possible but I’m weary about most of them :/

Oh gosh we’ve struggled with the same cat food issues too. It doesn’t help that Sketchie has a very sensitive stomach and has had some stool issues in the past. Right now we have him on a natural canned food from Whole foods…can’t quite remember the name but he seems to love it. He’s also on a natural dental dry formula from the vet but I wouldnt necessarily recommend it. We’ve been looking all over for an organic food and haven’t found anything yet. Let me know what you come up with!

I have made these so many times! They are so good and a super easy breakfast for hectic mornings. I have been spreading melted raw coconut butter on them, which made them even better! Thanks for all your yummy recipes.

I just discovered your website and it is amazing! Do you think I can omit the nuts in this recipe? Would I be able to increase the oats? If so, by how much? I am trying to find nut free/gluten free/ wheat free/ dairy free desserts/sweets for my friend’s daughter. If you have any other recipe recommendations, I’d greatly appreciate them!

Hey Angela!
I wanted to share- I just made these last night but mine were turning out too dry as cookies…so I made them into muffins! I added about 1/2-3/4 cup of almond milk and some applesauce and baked them in a muffin pan for about 20 minutes…They were great! Just thought I’d pass that along!

Hi! I wasn’t sure where to inform you of this, but I recently read your post about trying to keep your ads vegan friendly, and I just got one that was asking me which brand of yogurt of was most familiar with. Just thought you’d want to know! ^_^

Hey Connor, Thank you for letting me know! I will do my best to find it and remove it. If you see one again, please take a screenshot of it and email it to eric[at]ohsheglows[dot]com – also if you can let us know the brand of the ad, that helps us locate it. Thanks!

Hi Angela! I am gluten free and vegan for health reasons that came on in the last year. I saw your suggestions for making them gluten free to Sonia above so I tried it and they are great! I made my own oat flour and almond flour and use 1/2 cup of each in place of the whole wheat flour. I love them and my baby girl who is 14 months loved them too! Thank you so much for all the work you put into your beautiful site and recipes. Your blog and one other vegan blog are my go to’s for dinner every night!

Have you tried to make them GF and if so, what type of flour did you use? I like to use brown rice, almond or buckwheat usually? Thanks. They are yummy. Made them last year on Christmas morning and will do the same again as the boys loved them and I knew they had some healthy fuel to last for the exciting day ahead!

Made the cookies for a pot luck lunch and they were so good!! I kept a few leftovers for me to have for little snacks over the next couple days… well, let’s be honest, they were gone within a few minutes.

I made these last night and they were SO good! Incredibly moist and easy to make. I topped the cookies with an avocado cream made with almond milk and a bit of vanilla extract and sugar. My roommates loved them! The cookies followed your Lentil Walnut Apple Loaf, which was also a big hit. I live in a 6 person co-op and we adhere to a vegetarian diet in the house, so I frequently visit your blog for inspiration. Your creative and playful recipes have truly influenced my growth as a cook over the past 6 months, and making food for people is now one of the greatest sources of joy in my life. Thank you!

I need to add an update: My 3 year old asked for these carrot cookies for breakfast this morning! The batch I made a few days ago disappeared so I made another per his request.
Yesterday morning I made your blueberry muffins (http://ohsheglows.com/2014/02/19/blissful-blueberry-banana-spelt-muffins-vegan-refined-sugar-free/) – I made them in mini muffin tins, and he devoured them. Big hit! …At this rate I’m thinking you would have great success with another cookbook “Vegan recipes for picky preschoolers”! It feels wonderful to give little guy (and big guy) fresh-baked, delicious, homemade treats for meals and snacks that are truly nutritionally sound. So happy :)

I just found your website recently and totally enjoy it. I am not Vegan but my daughter is a vegetarian and I find Vegan Cookingm to be healthier and way more creative. I am sooooo looking forward to making these to send as a snack with school lunches but had a question about the applesauce – do you use sweetened or unsweetened

I made these today and they are excellent! I used a regular cookie scoop and ended up with 25 cookies. I think I should have baked them for maybe 10 minutes instead, but they were good. My husband and I liked them and my 4 year old ate one too. My 2 year old sniffed out a carrot and wouldn’t eat his though lol. I’ve got to figure out new ways to get him to eat veggies. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!

My son, too!
The best way I’ve found so far, is to finely shred carrots and stir into lemon jello. For broccoli, I slice off the green buds and mix with lime jello.
Noticing the date of your comment, perhaps you found other effective ways to incorporate veggies?

Hiya! Made these bites and accidentally used a whole cup of pecans instead of a half cup. Not a totally fatal mistake, it’s quite nutty and I love the savory aspect; I can really see myself enjoying these on my way to work with a thermos of irish tea. I added a tiny bit of mini dark chocolate chips for fun, why not?! I also used a mixed lot of raisins, Trader Joe’s sells a little bag with different colored raisins and I thought it’d make a pretty cookie : )

One question, *how can I have these last the week without molding?* I made delicious blueberry banana muffins off this site last week and they were molded by Thursday–I chopped the molded part off, sliced them in half, toasted them, and topped them with Earth Balance anyway, but would like to know if there’s a recommended way of storing baked goods.

Thanks for sharing this recipe. As an Aussie some of the ingredients aren’t as common here so I used what I had in the house at the time: plain flour instead of pastry flour, no pecans, ginger syrup & extra maple syrup instead of applesauce and ground ginger. I found they were rather plain by themselves (to my surprise as I usually like milder flavours) but delicious with marmalade or peanut butter. It’s a great base recipe though and I’ll try them again, perhaps with marmalade IN the mix or with dried fruit or rind, spices (nutmeg, cloves) or lots of fresh ginger. Thankyou!

I made these this past weekend, and they’re delicious! Tasty, and super filling, you only need to eat one of these for breakfast! I am attempting to make some healthier choices, and these were my solution to replacing my morning muffin. YUM! Also, just to put it out there, I made them exactly as the recipe instructs. No substitutions. :)

Thanks for the delicious recipe! I used walnuts instead of pecans, and they were great. I also didn’t have applesauce, so I just peeled and chopped up an apple and steamed in the microwave with a bit of water, cinnamon and nutmeg to soften – there were still apple chunks throughout but it was nice for the variety in texture. I only used about 1/4 cup maple syrup and I found they were sweet enough! Finally, I hope this isn’t offensive, but I cut mine in half and put cream cheese in the middle, to go along with the carrot cake theme – I’m not sure what would be the vegan alternative – this was my first experience baking something vegan, so please forgive me :)

I made this recipe after finding on Pinterest. Your recipes are some of my favourite out there! Even bought the cookbook! Today I want to make these again but don’t have oats. Could I just up the flour instead? Or maybe add more flax? Thanks!

This is the second time I’ve made these. They are soooo good. But they do take me 30 minutes to prep-hand grating my carrots and ginger- and 30 minutes to bake to get the bottom crisp and a cooked layer on top. I don’t bother lining the tray with cooking paper and the cookies come off with no problem. Thank you for your brilliance!

Hi! Just made (& ate) these… AMAZING!!! Unfortunately, I didn’t have everything so I made a couple of swaps… I used light spelt flour, chopped dates instead of raisin, food processed baby carrots and mashed banana instead of applesauce… And it worked perfectly! I really love that most of your recipes can be adapted with whatever we have on hand, it makes every single recipes I did (about 10000040404838) all amazing and unique. I am basically living off of your recipes and I am always amazed by your creations.

I could never master “lightly packed” anything :) so could you please give the weight of the shredded carrots in grams? And if possible (pleease) give all weights in grams to satisfy this perfectionist so that all my trials of your recipes will turn out like yours!

haha you’re comment is the best! I actually started adding metric measurements into my recipes a year or two ago, so all of my recent recipes have the weights in them. :) I hope someday all of them will though! Thanks for your input!

Hey Taylor, Coconut flour tends to be a hard flour to work with as a sub because it soaks up a ton of moisture in recipes and it also doesn’t contain any gluten (which whole wheat flour has). So my guess would be that you’d have to combine coconut flour with other flours for it to have a chance of working.